from: MsJuniper

My girlfriend emailed me to tell me she'd seen a version of "my" recipe on NBC. I've also seen it called 'Greek' Chicken. A few years ago, I saw this recipe in a cooking magazine - I think it was Cooks Illustrated - while at an airport a few years ago. I didn't buy it, but I was fascinated & I ended up making a reasonable facsimile when I got home. My Classics prof' friend once told me this technique was used by Etruscans, so you'll probably find versions of this 'mystery technique' everywhere.

It looks complicated, but if you do it once, you realize that is a VERY easy, very FAST recipe that yields excellent results. It comes out moister than BBQ or rotisserie, crispier than roasting. It also looks very dramatic & conversational when you have friends over.

Depending on the what you do for part "B", it can be a *very* fast meal. The benefits are that this recipe is easier than it looks & produces fabulous flesh with *very* tasty skin. This is a good recipe for a dinner after a stressful day. You get to whack the bejesus out of this chicken!

The brick presses out excess fat, so if you drain the pan, you have a much healthier chicken & sauce, too!
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Etruscan 'Chicken Under a Brick'

Equipment:
1 seasoned cast-iron pan
1or 2 foil-wrapped BRICKS
a good set of DRY oven mits, (or a pair with a couple of layers of tea towels)

Ingredients:
1 whole 3 or 4 lb chicken - butterfly technique per below
1 lemon - squeezed onto chicken to crisp skin
olive oil - use judgement: your bird, your pan...

Spices:
I like using Provencal mixed herbs or a Prudhomme mix with the pepper, oil & lemon.
Alternatively, to taste:
-chopped garlic
-crumbled rosemary
-crumbled thyme
-salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:

A. How to Butterfly a Chicken - in only a minute or so:
Remove backbone:
-using a cleaver or kitchen shears, stand the chicken on one end.
-get a firm grip on the bird & utensil. It might help to put a less pretty teatowel under it to prevent slippage.
-running along vertebrae, sever the skin, ribs & muscles to remove backbone. Save for soup.
Flatten chicken: you can be rough.
-start breaking the ribs around the breast by flipping over the chicken & spreading it flat.
-you can give it 'cpr' to get into place.
-you will be cooking the chicken 'skin side' down: whack bird flat on the board, tucking the legs & wings so
that it is as flat as possible. You don't want to be fiddling to get it flat when it goes into the hot pan.
-if the bird is stiff or very plump, you might need to rest another heavy pan on top of the bricks at cooking
time.
B. Optional marinade or brine:
At this point, you can decide to brine or marinade the bird or not. I highly recommend the quick marinade step,
which can be as fast as 20 minutes to an hour. Overnight is better, if its a low-acid marinade. Remember to bring
bird to room temperature before cooking so the pan doesn't cool on contact.
For a Marinade: Rub bird with a mis of the lemon, oil & seasonings - over & under skin if you're into it.
For a Brine: If you have a prime bird, I don't find this all that useful for this recipe. But if you're using a
cheaper bird, a brine is helpful. A brine mix is dependent on how long the bird will soak, so you'll need your
own if you aren't using this 1 hour brine:
- dissolve salt and sugar in 2 quarts cold water in large container,
- add some of the herbs & pepper to give a full flavour.
- soak bird 1 hour: electrolytes will plump a meat & carry the herb flavours.
***You will need to bring bird to room temperature & pat off watery moisture before rubbing with oil, lemon &
herbs onto the skin & flesh. Too much water will make the pan *very* unpleasant to work in.

C. Cooking Time!! My girlfriend emailed me this video link, which might help demo the process:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/815060.asp
Pat down the chicken for moisture. Be sure bird is oiled. Sprinkle with seasonings, if desired.
Preheat a seasoned, cast iron pan & a foil wrapped brick in the oven. We want them *hot* (500), but not so
hot that the pan seasoning 'whitens'.
- Put pan on stove hot element.
- If you're heating the pan on the stove (which I've had to do if I'm cooking dessert & sharing oven with brick)
preheat the pan at medium-high for 3 minutes.
When pan & brick are hot, & YOU'RE READY TO GO, drizzle oil oil into pan to coat. You don't need much,
because the bird is oiled & the heat will extract the fat, anyway. Oil will be "smok'n ready" in about 30
seconds... so be ready. The oil is to keep things a bit loose as you adjust the bird into the pan.
Take out the foil-wrapped brick with a THICK oven mit. Put a set of tongs on the stove by the pan.
Visualize what you're going to do, because the sizzle is a bit alarming.
-we're trying to weight/press the chicken into a position where it makes max contact with the pan.
-with tongs, you will arrange the chicken skin down, with the legs flat & the wing tips tuck on top.
Hold pan handle with THICK oven mit. Act fast.
- balance the chicken in other hand.
- carefully slap the chicken into the pan, skin side down.
- arrange chicken
Drop bricks onto chicken: bung back into oven. With a hot oven, it takes about 15 minutes. I prefer the
oven because it keeps the bricks hot. I haven't tried the cooking on a stovetop, but I'm sure that works, too.
Remove chicken & let rest.
Pour off the excess fat, make a tasty sauce from the drippings.
Adding a bit of lemon & a flavourful alcohol is nice, but not essential.